The background for the belief in witchcraft and sorcery is the pre-christian religions in Europe. The belief is not as strong as it used to be, but it is still strong in Duckburg. On 9 June 1952 Dewey proves that witches do not exist - brooms are areodynamicly unfit to flying. Later, however, the ducks meet real witches and Dewey's "proof" is disregarded. One sorceress, Magica de Spell (I have devoted a separate page to the sorceress her), is among Scrooge's main opponents and people dress like withces from time to time, especially when it is Halloween. Mad Madam Mim does not count, because none of the artists I have looked at use her.

In "Jet Witch" (WDC 254-01) we can see how strong the belief in witches is. Gyro has invented a jetbroom, and he is flying dressed as a witch on Halloween because the invention is top secret. Donald helps Gyro in his testing. He scares the living daylight out of the population in Duckburg, he scares a policehorse and all the animals in the city zoo. Everybody is convinced that it was a real witch that ruined the Halloween.
Once, in "Wispy Willie" (WDC 159-01) Scrooge has a woman dress as a witch and a man dress as a dragon. He wants to buy Donald's house, but Donald is not fooled.

The ducks meet a real witch another Halloween. In "Trick or Treat" (DD 26-02) Donald has lots of candy, but he is not willing to share it with Huey, Dewey and Louie. The good (?) Witch Hazel is on earth to make people believe in witches again. She is lucky and arrives while the Duckburgians are celebrating Halloween, and she meets the unfortunate ducklings. When she discovers that Donald does not reward the duckling's faith in witches, she takes pride in getting them the candy they want. It looks like Donald is going to succeed, even Witch Hazel's ogre Smorgasbord (Smorgie, the Bad) fails (Donald has, btw., Smorgie as a fancy dress in Don Rosa's "Fit to be pied" (AR 108). In the end, Hazel put some iron pants on him and smashes the door to the room where the candy is stored. All ends well - Donald has to surrender to the magic powers of Witch Hazel.

The witch in "The Golden Christmas Tree" (OS 203-02) is not as nice as the one in "Trick or Treat". In this story, Donald is reading in the newspaper about a witch burning snow and destroying christmas trees. Huey, Dewey and Louie want a golden christmas tree, and this makes them an easy target for the witch. She sends the to Mt. Demon Tooth, where her house is located. The ducklings soon discover that the witch hates christmas trees because people gather cheerfully around them. She hates happy people, and that she is making a brew that will end the nonsense and make people sad and mean towards each other. She is, however, in need of tears from children. Donald saves Huey, Dewey and Louie setting her housde on fire and making her into a petrol can. In addition he rescues the Spirit of Christmas, and the story ends with the ducks receiving 18.766 golden christmas trees from their fellow Duckburgians.

In "A Spicy Tale" (US 39-02) we do not meet a which, but we do meet a witch doctor. His speciality is the making of a brew that makes small things out of big things. In this story, he has forgotten one ingredient, and Donald the Developer (Huey, Dewey and Louie are underdevelopers!) tries to help him by adding nutmeg. The result is a brew that makes big things out of small things. And small things, in this story, are things like dangerous animals that eat small ducks.

The last non-Magica witch is mentioned in "The Golden Helmet" (OS 408-02). When Azure Blue discovers that Donald has found the golden helmet they both are looking for, he screams: "By the seven teeth of the sea witch!" The story tells us nothing about the sea witch or her whereabouts. We do not know whether she was born with only seven teeth or whether she has lost the other teeth. But she does exist.